Here it is, somehow we’re already in October of 2016. This year went by so fast, and October 10th is already Columbus Day. As a kid I always admires Columbus’s voyage, and it wasn’t until my AP History class in high school that I learned the truth.
The second Monday of every October is designated to be Columbus Day in honor of the man who (allegedly) discovered America on October 12, 1492. We get a three-day weekend, and for us college kids any day without class is much appreciated. People have fires and enjoy sleeping in that Monday. Grade school kids sing songs about Columbus and admire his courage.
Man, have we got it all wrong.
For starters, there is scientific evidence of the Vikings coming into America using Beringia (the land mass connecting Alaska and Russia) thousands of years before Columbus, and the NATIVE. AMERICANS. were there for years before that. And as dangerous or barbaric as they were, there is not much of a record about Viking and Native American interactions. According to nativeamericannetroots.net, the only recorded site of the Vikings in North America was in Newfoundland in about 1000 AD. Keep in mind that there are many records of the Vikings during this time and how they survived and their history, but not so much what happened with the Native Americans. Researchers assume either Native Americans didn’t reside in all of what would be North America, so maybe they never came into contact. Or maybe somehow they reached an agreement as to how to coexist. Either way, this audacious culture leaves no history as cold and cruel as that of Columbus.
Flash forward to Columbus’s day in Italy. There was a desire for gold, and Columbus was not the wealthiest or most respected man of his day. He pleaded to prove himself by navigating to India in search of gold. He f*cked up his attempt at redemption, and landed in the Bahamas. Thinking that he landed in India, any Natives he saw he called “Indians”. His “discovery” led him to great fame, which is so wrongly deserved.
There are COUNTLESS records of Columbus raping the Native American women. According to truth-out.org, Columbus thought the Natives he saw would make great slaves due to their stupidity. He said that they weren’t armed and didn’t know how to use swords, and said “..though they are living things they are as good as gold”. There is record of Columbus raping a girl because “she gave him no choice”. Also, the Taino people resorted to suicide because life under Columbus’ rule was so horrifying.
And, as if all these records aren’t enough, I just saw a video on Facebook that made me horrified for glorifying Columbus. Native Americans of today were asked to do a word association about Christopher Kill-ombus. And if reading about online isn’t enough to make you feel a little guilty, seeing the faces of the descendants he traumatized is heartbreaking. He is attributed to Hitler and it is brought up that this sort of genocide would be punished severely today.
And, in honor of this video, F*CK COLUMBUS.
http://nativeamericannetroots.net/
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26789-the-truth-about-columbus-day-why-are-we-celebrating
https://www.facebook.com/WatchCut/videos/vl.956889467718259/522456597917232/?type=1
